Range extension and high elevation record for the endangered woolly flying squirrel Eupetaurus cinereus in Western Himalaya, India

Abstract The woolly flying squirrel (Eupetaurus cinereus Thomas, 1888) is one of the least-known endangered mammals of the Himalayas and recorded only from few localities at 2400–3600 m in Hindu Kush and North-Western Himalayas. We report first confirmed record of this species from Upper Bhagirathi Basin, Uttarakhand, Western Himalaya. The squirrel was photo-captured twice in camera traps placed in temperate and alpine habitats. The photo-capture at 4800 m is higher than the described upper elevation range limit of any other flying squirrels. Continuous monitoring would reveal the extent of threats to this rare species in its newly described range.

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Phytopharmacological review of Bunium persicum (Boiss)B. fedtsch.

Journal of Drug Delivery and Therapeutics ◽

10.22270/jddt.v9i2.2509 ◽

2019 ◽

Vol 9 (2) ◽

pp. 458-460

Author(s):

ZAHIDA SHAH ◽

Tabasum Ali ◽

Sabeeha Shafi

Keyword(s):

Perennial Herb ◽

Western Himalayas ◽

The West ◽

Bunium Persicum ◽

Alpine Habitats ◽

Zagros Range ◽

North Western

Bunium persicum(BOISS)B.Fedtsch belonging to family Apiaceae is native to the region of the limited zones of the West Asia, Kherman and grows to the areas of North Khorasan and Kheraman, East of the Zagros range to Bandar Abbaas and south area of the Albroz range in Iran. It is also found in North western parts of Himalayas. Bunium persicum is found growing naturally in sub-alpine and alpine habitats of North Western Himalayas. It is a perennial herb, dwarf 30cm to tall 80cm and its flowers are small, white in color. Keywords: Bunium persicum, Apiaceae, North-Western Himalayas, Perrenial Herb

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Trend analysis of Changing Pattern of Snowfall and Precipitation over the Time Period of 1979 to 2014 in Alpine region of Uttarakhand, Western Himalaya, India

10.5194/egusphere-egu2020-565 ◽

2020 ◽

Author(s):

Arvind Pandey ◽

Sarita Palni

Keyword(s):

Trend Analysis ◽

Western Himalaya ◽

High Elevation ◽

Polar Regions ◽

Western Himalayas ◽

Land Utilization ◽

Lower Altitude ◽

Inaccessible Area ◽

Remote Sensing Techniques ◽

Water Ecosystems

Himalayan mountain region lying in the northern piece of Indian sub-continent is among those zones which bears the most geologically fragile situations and are additionally a vault of biodiversity, new water stockpiling and environment administrations. The Himalaya is one of the world&#8217;s largest and mostly inaccessible area of glaciers outside the polar regions and provides glacier-stored water to the major perennial rivers of India throughout the year and to their river basins also. Glacier is a large ice mass formed by accumulation, compaction and re-crystallization of snow and firn due to stress of its own weight. Glacier with steep slopes of bedrock may retreat with slower rate or may even advance because downslope movement of glacier will continuously feed ice to lower altitude. Increased retreating rate of glaciers can be considered as an indicator of climate change. In the course of recent three decades, the occurred changes can be explained with exploitative land utilization which is among the primary drivers of changing snow cover, vegetation covers and profitability in western Himalayas locale. In a region where field-based research is tiring because of heterogenous and high elevation, measuring the changes in aforesaid using Remote Sensing techniques can give basic data regarding variating patterns of Snowfall and Precipitation. This paper studies the trend analysis of changing Snowfall and Precipitation patterns using SWAT and MODIS data (1979&#8211;2014 and 1999 to Present) over Uttarakhand Himalaya and its association with altitudinal gradient. This paper investigates the trends in maximum (Pmax), minimum (Pmin) & mean (Pmean) Snowfall and Precipitation in the annual, seasonal and monthly time-scales for 54 stations in the 5 regions of Uttarakhand&#8217;s Western Himalayan region which are categorized on the basis of elevation, from year 1979-2014. Statistical approaches are used to examine the effect of change in pattern of snowfall and precipitation upon the phenology of vegetation, fresh water ecosystems, agricultural productivity, decreasing snow line, increasing tree line & change in duration of the seasons etc of the study area.

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Estimation of Deglaciation through Remote Sensing Techniques in Chandra-Bhaga Basin, Western Himalaya

Journal of Climate Change ◽

10.3233/jcc210007 ◽

2021 ◽

Vol 7 (1) ◽

pp. 79-88

Author(s):

Shruti Dutta ◽

AL. Ramanathan

Keyword(s):

Remote Sensing ◽

Continuous Monitoring ◽

Hydrological Cycle ◽

Western Himalaya ◽

Western Himalayas ◽

Hindu Kush ◽

Micro Level ◽

Spatio Temporal ◽

Remote Sensing Techniques ◽

Increasing Temperature

Glaciers act as natural indicators of climate response and natural buffers of the hydrological cycle. Hence, continuous monitoring of glaciers is very crucial for which remote sensing techniques have emerged as a powerful tool to understand the micro-level variation and dynamics of glaciers. Unfortunately, a database involving complete basin-level approach and an extensive temporal range is not available for the entire Chandra-Bhaga (CB) sub-basin. Thus, the present investigation attempts to account for the extent of deglaciation in the CB basin showing that 16.7 percent of the glaciated area has been lost during 1989-2019. Moreover, the last three decades have witnessed a rapid rate of loss for small and medium-sized glaciers as compared to larger glaciers. Adding to it, the basin has also shown an upwards shift of mean elevation in this period. Over the last decade, an increasing temperature in the western Himalayas and Hindu Kush regions, as asserted by previous studies, have led to spatio-temporal changes in the glaciated area. The extent of deglaciation alongwith the glacier-climate behaviour and response can also provide a link to measure the topographical parameters.

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